


Caught up in my Head

by 210pm



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-07
Packaged: 2018-11-08 19:49:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11088705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/210pm/pseuds/210pm
Summary: Christen hates her. She really does because Tobin Heath is undoubtedly the most infuriating human being on God's green earth. Tobin Heath is practically the bane of Christen's existence. Tobin's smile is just too beautiful and her touches are too soft and gentle. Because a person like Tobin Heath is too good for somebody like Christen.Okay, so maybe she doesn't hate her.





	1. Ch. 1

 

 

It's been 30 minutes.

 

Christen Press has been sitting alone in the library with two cold hot chocolates beside her closed books for 30 minutes. Her hands were placed warily in her lap as she played with her fingers nervously. Checking her phone for the 6th time in 5 minutes, the girl breathed out a tired sigh.

 

This had never happened before. Usually if a student enrolled for a tutoring session, they would at least bother to show up for an hour and pretend to act the slightest bit interested in whatever Christen was explaining to them. And, being the understanding, struggling college student she is, Christen would allow their neglect to go unreported. Never before had Christen been encountered with the possibility of a student completely ditching a session without at least texting her or her student manager beforehand. It had been 33 minutes now, 3 minutes having passed by as Christen delved into her internal thoughts.

 

No, this is not a situation that Christen had encountered before and she was stumped on what she should do next.

 

One option, she realized, was that she could wait it out. She could wait an entire hour to see if the person she was supposed to be helping would end up coming for at least the tail end of the session. If they didn't, well, at least Christen could proudly say that she tried. That idea was quickly dismissed, though, as Christen couldn't stand to sit alone in that godforsaken library with her rear subjected to those uncomfortable seats for another half hour without a clear objective. Alternatively, Christen considered just texting her student manager and asking him to contact the person she was supposed to be tutoring to ask if they were planning on making an appearance. The only clear flaw in that plan was that, to her dismay, her student manager was on a trip abroad. Meaning, while it was only about 6 o'clock at night where she was, it was around 3 in the morning where her student manager currently was staying. The only other clear option was for Christen to pack up her things and hope the rain that had been threatening to fall all week hadn't decided to rear its ugly head today. She didn't think she'd particularly enjoy walking back to her dorm in the pouring rain but, considering her circumstances, she'd be willing to make the painful sacrifice.

 

Seeing it as the only fit option, Christen breathed out another frustrated sigh as she ran her hand across her slicked back hair and fixed her loose ponytail. Just as she was beginning to begrudgingly shove her books and other miscellaneous objects into her backpack, a lanky figure pushed her way through the doorway of the library, hazel eyes scanning the room she found herself in and afterwards, locking onto Christen's stiff body. She was dressed in sweatpants along with a long sleeve dry fit shirt and a rain jacket tossed over the top. Her hair, hanging loosely over her shoulders in waves and topped by a SnapBack, was damp with fresh droplets of rain.

 

_So it is raining._

 

The figure slowly made her way over to where Christen was sitting frozen with her hands still hovering over the zipper of her backpack. The girl casually flopped down into the chair on the opposite side of the table, uninterested eyes taking in the confused girl across from her.

 

After a couple awkward seconds between the two as they took in one another, the girl across from her broke the silence.

 

"Hey."

 

_What the hell?_

 

"Oh.. uh- hi," Christen hesitantly stuttered out, her tone lilting slightly higher than normal as she took in the girl in front of her, "I'm tutoring- well, I mean.. you're Tobin, right?"

 

Christen's cheeks flushed a light pink as soon as the blunt, unorganized words left her lips.

 

_Seriously? You're supposed to be tutoring her Christen, how the hell are you going to do that if you can't even get out a complete, normal sentence in front of her?_

 

Breaking away from her internal monologue, Christen manages to readjust her scattered focus onto the girl across from her. Tobin's features, although they still remained stoic and uninterested for the most part, danced with the barest hints of amusement. Her hazel eyes sparkled in the artificial lights of the library, twinkling with the slightest bit of mischief before she responded.

 

"Yeah, I'm Tobin. So, you knowing my name must mean you're either my tutor or another one of my crazy, stalker fans," She pauses, "Not that I'd mind someone as pretty as you following me around all day."

 

While Tobin's lips stretch into a subtle smirk, Christen's cheeks flush an even deeper shade of pink. Chuckling uncomfortably, Christen plays with the cuffs of her baby blue UNC sweatshirt as she manages to avoid eye contact with the amused girl across from her.

 

"Yeah, well you should pick up some glasses on your way back. Or, maybe that's the reason why you're almost 35 minutes late?" Christen responds with ease, her eyebrow quirking upwards as she gathers her lost confidence and dares to resume eye contact with Tobin.

 

Surprised by the response, Tobin's face dropped back to the eerily indifferent expression she harnessed when she first entered the building. Shrugging her shoulders, Tobin sunk forward into the seat, her body following her movements and her elbows sliding themselves onto the hardwood table separating the two girls.

 

"Actually, I'm here because I'm failing three out of the four courses I'm required to take. I'm here because, while I don't give a fuck about school, management has been up my ass about my grades. I'm here because if I don't keep my GPA above a 2.0, I can't play soccer anymore and really, that's all I want to do. So yeah, I came late because the last thing I want to do right now is sit in a library and listen to someone, who honestly has no social life if they have the time to be tutoring, talk about subjects that I frankly don't want to know about," Tobin states, her voice monotoned and her eyes boring into Christen's own, "So, if you could just cut to the part where you start to talk about the shit that you need to talk about and I sit over here and pretend to listen, I think that you and I will get along just fine."

 

_Well, at least she has her priorities straight_ , Christen thought with resentment.

 

At a complete loss for words, Christen took this time to glance up at the laminated clock that was hung on the pale library walls.

 

6:46 p.m.

 

Wracking her brain for any semblance of what she would usually refer to as words (since she was simply incapable of knowing what words were at the moment), Christen just stared silently at Tobin who sat across from her with a bored expression plastered across her face. In the time that it took Christen to scavenge her brain for sentences to respond with, she unnoticeably had been studying Tobin's features.

 

Her eyes wandered down from her honey brown eyes, to her nose, and down to her soft, pillowy lips.

 

_Pillowy? What the hell, Christen?_

 

Her gaze then traveled across the length of her neck where her collar bones protruded from the sliver of skin that was left uncovered by her shirt's neckline. Retracing her steps, Christen's gaze wandered back up to Tobin's lower face where she admired the sharp angle of her cheekbones and the hard set definition of her jaw line.

 

_She's actually...pretty,_ Christen thought with a sort of awe.

 

As if catching her wandering eyes, Tobin's lips once again twisted into a soft smirk, causing Christen to snap out of her trance and finally respond to Tobin's statement.

 

"Uh..well, I can't exactly force you to accept my tutoring but, if I'm not wrong, you being here with me right now means that you signed yourself up for it. And sure, you may not be the smartest person in the world from what I've gathered but-" Christen stopped there, gathering herself and drawing in a deep breath of fresh air as Tobin watched with an aura of amusement surrounding her, "Well, you even said it yourself, if you want to continue with sports at this school you'll need to pass some classes and in order to do that you might actually need to listen to what's coming out of my mouth when I decide to start tutoring and stop rambling," Christen spoke quickly, her confidence fading as she continued and her voice dwindling to a soft murmur as the end neared.

 

Tobin's expression faded and changed from almost impressed to barely restrained anger. Her lips became pursed and her eyes narrowed themselves as she scrutinized Christen with her intense gaze. Christen, sitting with her hands squeezed tight in her lap, broke away from the eye contact and chose a particularly interesting spot on the table to stare at in order to escape Tobin's fiery look.

 

_Maybe if I run across the room and pull the fire alarm, I can manage to escape as the- what, 7 students in here, scramble to run out the door. I'd take the rain over this any day._

 

Breathing out a sigh of frustration, Tobin chuckled lowly, “Well, let’s agree to disagree. Now, could you start talking, please? I'd like to be back to my dorm by the morning and this is taking longer than I expected," Tobin said, leaning back into her chair and crossing her arms. Meeting Tobin's gaze with an equally annoyed glare, Christen sighed and began to pull out her textbooks from her open backpack, sliding them onto the table and opening them to the assigned pages.

 

_This is going to be a long semester._

 


	2. Ch. 2

 

It's too early for this, really.

  
Christen decides that 9 o’clock in the morning is too early to deal with any of life’s basics function, talking and interacting with people included. This outlook is entirely based on the fact that she, Christen Press, a known optimist, has to speak to and attempt to connect with her fellow psychology majors who all happen to be odd, awkward, and secluded strangers.

  
Sure, Christen knows she may be a hypocrite for this considering her own lack of social skills and the fact that she has a total of 3 friends on campus, but in retrospect, she's tired and overworked and frankly, a little under the weather. So if her patience is a little worn thin and she doesn't want to have to deal with Peter, who's sitting across from her and going off about the fascinations of the human psyche, she supposes that she's entitled to her annoyance.

  
Christen rubs at her irritated eyes with the palms of her hands as she tries (and fails) to contain the second sneeze she's been forced to deal with in a one minute interval, uttering a murmured sorry to all of her heavy-eyed peers. Struggling to keep her eyes from falling shut, Christen focuses her mind on the more important things: passing her classes, what she's going to do about the leak in her dorm room's ceiling, and Tobin.

  
_Tobin? How the hell did Tobin make it onto your list of important things, Christen?_

  
Although it was a bit strange for Christen to lump Tobin into the list of college related, important tasks and objectives, it was not strange for Christen to catch herself thinking about the slightly aloof and carefree athlete. Despite her worn out state, Tobin had been wandering into Christen’s mess of thoughts for the past few days since Christen had seen her last. It had been a disappointment to Christen to see the lanky girl shoot up out of her seat and walk out of the library doors as soon as Christen read the last line out of her textbook during their first session. It had been an even bigger disappointment to find out the sky was still unleashing rain by the time they had finished, causing her to walk back to her dorm in the downpour murmuring about disrespectful, pretty girls the entire time.

  
By the time she had woken up the next morning, Christen was plagued with a sore throat, a runny nose, a headache, and a bitterness towards snapbacks and perfect smiles.

  
_Maybe I'll never have to see her again. I mean, she didn't exactly look like she was enjoying the whole concept of studying and I haven't heard from her since. Maybe this was like one of those one time, strange encounters that doesn’t make any sense until later on in life when I'm old and senile and all the pieces of life start to fit togeth-_

  
Christen’s thoughts were rudely interrupted by her professor telling the class their assignments for the week, ultimately sending them on their way with a new set of stress and arms full of textbooks and meaningless papers.

  
Pushing her way out into the hallways of the college and then slowly making her way outside through the rivers of people, Christen breathed in the scent of fresh air. After having just rained, North Carolina’s air was sweet and the grass, among other things, was green and vibrant. Although she was a west coast girl at heart, the east coast did have it’s many perks.

  
Figuring that she might as well drop off her heaps of books and papers before she ventured out to get her well deserved and much needed cup of coffee from the local coffee shop, Christen began the short yet lonely tred to her dorm room. Blowing a loose strand of hair away from her line of vision, Christen’s mind once again drifted to thoughts of Tobin as her slender fingers clutched the variety of textbooks to her chest. It's not like she considered herself infatuated with the girl, after all, they've only met once and it wasn't entirely pleasant, but it was more of a friendly curiosity.

  
Christen has always been a curious person, ever since her childhood and early teenage years. Her parents would always recount stories to her of simpler times when her curiosity spanned to why fire trucks are red and why the color red even exists in the first place. Sadly, as she matured, her curiosity did as well and now included being overly concerned with pretty girls with gorgeous smiles. Or more specifically, one pretty with a gorgeous smile.

  
 _Dammit, Christen. What's wrong with you? As if obsessing over this girl is going to actually get her to like you. You couldn't even get Joe, the weird guy on the second floor, to have a conversation with you about laundry detergents. Not to mention, she said you had no social life and stared at you with a burning hatred the entire session,_ Christen reasoned with herself, staring straight ahead as she neared her building.

  
Approaching the locked doors, Christen struggled for a good 2 minutes as she tried to pull out her key card, attempting to swipe it into the identification lock and almost dropping her massive pile of books in the process. Once she finally got it open, Christen warily traveled into the elevator and made her way to her dorm room. Having gotten lucky when receiving room assignments, Christen was gifted with the likes of a corner dorm. Meaning, her dorm had more space and was not as cramped compared to the other rooms on her floor. Unlocking her door, Christen shoved it open eagerly and dumped her books unceremoniously onto the floor with a relieved sigh.

  
“Chris, we talked about this! No dumping objects in the middle of the doorway, we've had too many incidents in the past,” a voice argued from within the room, tone laced with an annoyed affection.

  
“Sorry, Jules. The only form of physical activity I do is climbing up the stairs when the elevator is out of commission so one more second with those things in my hands and my arms would have fallen off,” Christen whined, clamoring onto her bed and flopping herself into the unmade and messy sheets.

  
Julie rolled her eyes at her roommate’s theatrics, thoroughly amused.

  
“Don't be dramatic, Press. Anyway, how did classes go?” Julie asked distractedly, her fingers typing away something on her phone.

  
“Fine, they went fine,” Christen stated, her voice muffled by the various throw sheets she had wrapped herself in. Pondering her statement for a few seconds, Christen shot up out of her bed with an annoyed expression on her face. “Actually, no. They didn't go fine,” Christen whined, running her hand through her curly hair.

  
Julie rolled her eyes, throwing her phone across her bed so she could listen intently to Christen’s complaints.

  
“Oh, good! Are you finally going to talk about who you were complaining about when you came in last night. You woke me up with your muttering by the way,” Julie revealed with a disgruntled murmur.

  
Christen nodded, leaning forward as she thought about where she would start, choosing to just recount the basic foundation of her annoyances last night.

  
“Tobin Heath. I was complaining about Tobin Heath when I came in last night,” Christen began, Julie’s mouth opening and her eyes sparkling with recognition at the name, “And before you start talking about her obvious popularity here, I already know about it. I sorta...I mean- okay, I was angry and upset last night because she left me at the library and made me walk home in the rain so I did a little research.”

  
Julie took the end of the sentence as her cue to begin voicing her thoughts on the athlete.

  
“You’re tutoring Tobin Heath? For God’s sake Chris, you honestly have the best luck. First you get to tutor that hot football player-”

  
“Not my type and I set you up with him, Jules,” Christen interrupted with a raised eyebrow.

  
“Yeah, yeah, whatever. Point is, this is a blessing. You, my little introverted friend, are tutoring Olympic gold medalist and renowned party-girl, Tobin Heath,” Julie squealed, jumping off of her bed and harshly placing both of her hands flat on Christen’s flushed cheeks, pulling the embarrassed girl closer to own face.

  
“Meaning?”

  
“Meaning, you may be able to finally break out of your shell! I've been waiting for this moment for 2 years now…” Julie began, voicing her irrelevant thoughts and opinions on the matter.

  
Sighing with exhaustion, Christen carefully pried Julie’s delicate hands away from her cheeks and hopped off the bed, informing her talkative roommate that she was going for her daily coffee run. Slipping out of the room with little protest from Julie, as the blonde was still invested in her own trivial thoughts, Christen began the journey to the local coffee shop, her thoughts now solely consumed by Tobin.

  
 _Julie doesn't get it. Tobin’s not someone that I could mesh with. She's impolite and rude and...hot. She's so hot_ , Christen threw her head back in disappointment at the path her thoughts went down when thinking of the carefree athlete.

_  
Plus, people like Tobin don't hang out with people like you, Chris. It's the basic laws of society._

  
After briefly chatting with the baristas that worked at her local coffee shop, Christen grabbed her espresso and began her walk throughout the campus to get back to her dorm so she could get a head start on the term papers that had been sitting naggingly in the back of her mind since the morning. Silently hoping for a distraction to keep her from getting back to her assignments, walking by the soccer field was when she caught the sight of familiar hazel eyes and a beaming, pearly-white smile.

  
 _No, not what I meant by distraction_ , Christen thought, closing her eyes in frustration as she gripped the coffee cup she was clutching and continued to walk with her head held high.

  
Having gotten a quarter of the way past the massive field, Christen felt the strange sensation that she was being watched. Slowing her pace down to a slow meander, Christen slowly turned her head around only to be met with the intense stare of the person who had been occupying her mind the entire morning.

  
Having been caught, Tobin averted her eyes, guiltily training them onto the asphalt floor as a light blush spread slowly across the surface of her cheeks.

  
Christen slowed her body to a complete stop as she watched the scene in front of her with a peaked curiosity. Tobin’s teammates stared at her with wide eyes, whispering harshly in Tobin’s ear and shoving the athlete towards Christen despite Tobin’s lengthy protests. Rolling her eyes, Christen turned around sharply on her heels and resumed her walk back to her dorm.

  
 _My god, if she doesn't want to talk to me then I'm not gonna wait around for her to make up her mind_ , Christen brooded, her curly hair flowing behind her as she sped up her pace.

  
“Wait! Uh- Christen,” a voice called out from behind her, shoes slapping eagerly on the pavement as they neared Christen who refused to stop. “For the love of...could you just stop?”

  
Hearing this, Christen angrily rolled her eyes, stopping abruptly and spinning around just to come face to face with a surprised Tobin Heath. A fast spreading blush consumed Christen’s face as she stared wide-eyed at Tobin’s features, her body rigid and in shock from the closeness.

  
When she let out a sigh, Tobin’s breath fanned out across her cheeks, Christen’s gaze dancing downwards and onto Tobin’s lips for a split second before boomeranging back up to meet her eyes. Instinctively taking a step backwards, Tobin slung her hand onto the back of her neck as she rubbed it, embarrassed with the proximity of Christen. Features remaining serious as she scrutinized Christen with an intense stare, Tobin opened her mouth slightly before being interrupted by Christen.

  
“So, are you just going to stare at me or are you going to tell me why you made me stop,” Christen muttered in an unimpressed tone, not quite meeting Tobin’s eyes.

  
Tobin’s cheeks flared up with the familiar sight of pink as she respectfully diverted her eyes from Christen’s face.

  
“Well, I just was wondering if I could maybe get your number?” Tobin questioned, her hands scrambling around in her pocket before snatching a paper and pen from the depths of her sweatpants and handing them to Christen.

  
Taking the items in a state of confusion, Christen slightly tilted her head as she pondered Tobin’s request.

  
Rushing to justify her question, Tobin stuttered as she spoke, “I mean- for, uh tutoring. Since, you know, you're my tutor,” She explained with a contorted face.

  
Christen nodded with narrowed eyes as she quickly scribbled down her number onto the wrinkled piece of paper, handing it back to Tobin.

  
“And here I thought you had enough after one session,” Christen voiced just as Tobin began to turn around and head back to the group of athletes that were obviously staring at the two.

  
Tobin snorted, gesturing to the group of girls with her head, “Well, it wasn't exactly my choice. Believe me, I would quit if I could but they're on my back about this,” Tobin explained, not paying any attention to Christen as she did, instead choosing to state off into the distance.

  
 _Oh, great. So I'll have to deal with a repeat of last night for the entire semester then_ , Christen thought with annoyance.

  
As Christen thought in silence, Tobin shoved the number into the pocket of her sweats and began to leisurely walk away from the girl. Noticing Tobin’s absence, Christen’s head shot up as she watched the athlete get further away from her.

  
“Bye, Tobin,” Christen called out, her free hand that wasn't holding the cup of coffee warily waving a farewell.

  
As Tobin kept walking, electing to ignore her tutor’s goodbye, Christen’s hand fell back down to her side in disappointment. Deciding to follow Tobin’s lead, Christen began to walk away too, her mind swimming with a plethora of thoughts as she sipped at her now cold coffee.

  
Pulling out her phone, Christen stared at the black screen, ignoring the fuzzy urge at the back of her mind that was wishing for a text from Tobin to appear.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Go check out my tumblr @malpews if you wanna see the aesthetic tag I put together for this fic (just search up caught up in my head au in my account to find it)! Also, thank you so much for all of the comments on the last chapter!! It made my day to see you guys talking to me about what your thoughts were :) hope you guys enjoy this chapter, the story will defiantly start to pick up soon. Drop a comment below to tell me what you think :)


	3. Ch. 3

 

 

Laying on her back, head hanging off the side of the frame as she watched Julie try on a multitude of outfits for her date was when Christen received the first text.

 

The soft buzz of her phone went unnoticed by her at first, the sound being muffled by the blankets strewn across her mattress. It wasn't until she clumsily grabbed onto the phone and unlocked it that she saw the surprising notification sitting patiently on her lock screen wallpaper. In a few seconds, Christen eagerly entered her password and immediately clicked on the messages app, staring at the new text with awe.

 

**Unknown Number** **_:_ ** _ hey, it's Tobin. Could you meet me at my place for tutoring? I hate the library _

 

Her thumbs poised over her phone’s keyboard in anticipation, Christen glared at her screen in frustration as she struggled to compose a text in response to Tobin. It wasn't until she heard the faint voice of Julie in the background that she set down her phone and refocused her attention.

 

“Chris? Christen Press, don't ignore me! This is important,” her roommate complained, gesturing to the combination of clothes she had on with her hands. “Date night, Christen. Date night!”

 

“Okay, yeah I know, sorry,” Christen responded with a noncommittal shrug, her eyes wandering down to where her phone sat, still open on the uncomposed message.

 

Julie huffed out a disappointed sigh, shoving the pile of clothes that sat by her side away as she walked over to where Christen sat. “You're lucky I'm the bigger person here. Alright, what do you need help with?” Julie said, plopping herself down beside her roommate.

 

“No, Jules it's date night,” Christen pointed out, hesitantly reaching for her phone as she spoke.

 

Julie stared at Christen, unimpressed by her weak protest. “Well, maybe you should have thought about that before you gave me your stupid ‘I'm helpless and pretty’ face. You know I can't resist that. So, what’s up?”

 

Grimacing at her insensitivity towards her friend, Christen covered her eyes with one hand while the other shoved the phone screen into Julie’s expecting face.

 

“She texted me and I don't know how to respond,” Christen revealed, slightly embarrassed at her incapability to formulate a simple text message.

  

Realizing her roommate’s predicament, Julie snatched the phone out of Christen’s hand, staring intensely at the message before bursting out into uncontrollable laughter.

 

“Oh- oh my God, this is too much. Lord, give me strength,” Julie wheezed out, clutching her ribs as her shoulders continued to shake with laughter.

  

“What? What did I do?” Christen inquired defensively, her eyebrows furrowing at Julie’s boisterous reaction.

  

“Nothing…it's just that this is such a straightforward text and you can't even text her back without over thinking because you have such a giant crush on her,” Julie conveyed to Christen, her hands threaded through her hair in an attempt to regain all of the breath she had lost.

 

Alarmed by her insinuations, Christen’s entire face became heated, her body catapulting into an upright position as her expression became twisted with both confusion and disgust.

 

“Me and...wait, you think that- no...no, no, no,” Christen stuttered, stumbling over her words and her hands flailing wildly as she spoke as Julie watched in amusement. “First of all, that's just...no. Just, no. I do- I could never, Julie she's just so… _no_. And you know what, second off, that's just- wrong. It's wrong and I'm both offended and upset that you could ever think... _that._  

 

_ Well that was very compelling and convincing, Christen. Well done,  _ she thought as she inhaled deep breaths of stuffy, dorm room air.

 

Staring at Christen with a neutral expression, Julie began to drum her fingers across her thigh. “Are you done with your word vomit because it's date night and I can't be late but I also can't leave your gay ass alone to text Tobin so we need to move this along,” Julie commented, her baby blue eyes meeting Christen’s anxious ones as she waved the phone dauntingly in front of her room mate.

 

“You're awful and I hate you,” Christen noted, grabbing the phone from Julie’s hands and typing out a message before she could think twice about it.

 

“No, I'm amazing and you love me,” Julie sung, “Just send it. Don't overthink, alright? Let the conversation flow. I got to go because it’s date night tradition to make out in his car for 15 minutes before we head out to our reservations. Bye, Press!”

 

Groaning, “Jules, that was not something I needed to know,” Christen shouted, chucking a pillow at her room mate’s moving body just to have it slam against the closing door.

 

_ What does she even mean by letting the conversation flow,  _ Christen questioned.  _ It's not like there is going to be any conversation to...flow. _

 

Looking down at the text one last time, Christen hit send with her eyes squeezed shut, locking her phone soon after and throwing it to the opposite side of her bed.

 

**Christen:** _ yeah, no problem. I hate the library too, the seats suck in there! Just tell me your address and what time :) _

  

Throwing herself back onto her bed, the springs making her body bounce a few times before settling into the cushioned sheets, Christen stared up at her ceiling with exhausted eyes.

 

_ Oh, God. I actually sent that, with a smiley face and everything,  _ Christen thought resentfully.  _ I don't like her. Julie’s wrong because there's no way I could like her. She's awful and I'm pretty sure I hate her which is like...pretty much the exact opposite of like. You just gotta keep being polite and civil, Chris. Just get through the semester without stabbing her with your pencil and you'll be able to consider it a win. _

  

Christen sighed, resigning to her fatigue and allowing her eyes to droop shut for a few minutes, her breathing steadying out and her muscles relaxing. The peace was short lived, however, when her phone began to buzz with the telltale sign of a new notification. Knowing who it was but not feeling motivated enough to check, Christen sat unmoving on her bed for a couple more seconds before she willed herself to roll over and reach for her phone.

 

Unlocking the screen and swiping into her messages, Christen quickly scanned the text.

  

**Tobin:** _ my address is 1473 East Redland Ave. I live in the soccer house with some of my team so not a dorm. Would 8:00 tonight work for you? I have recovery after practice _

 

 Christen rolled over onto her back, her hands holding the phone directly above her face as her eyes strained to focus on the brightening screen. Choosing to abide by Julie’s advice and not over think her response, Christen quickly typed out another text and sent it without so much as a second thought.

  

**Christen:** _ yea, 8 works for me! See you then _

 

Glancing at the clock sitting by her bedside, Christen read the time with lingering disappointment.

 

_ Only 6:58. Alright, I have time to take a shower and maybe cram in some studying for next week’s exam,  _ Christen reasoned with herself, organizing her schedule for the next hour or so within her mind.

  

By the time Christen had taken her lengthy shower and planted herself down for some quality study time, the clock read 7:45 p.m., leaving her with about 15 minutes to get to Tobin’s place on time. Whipping out her phone and navigating her way to google maps, Christen realized that the estimated time to get to Tobin’s dorm on foot was about 12 minutes.

 

Throwing on a sweatshirt, Christen quickly glanced at herself in the mirror, checking her appearance one last time before sprinting out the door. Wearing ripped black skinny jeans complemented with the dark maroon of her sweatshirt and her hair thrown up into a messy bun atop her head, Christen began her quick walk down the dimly lit streets of UNC.

 

Gripping the straps of her backpack that carried her textbooks and other appropriate materials, Christen checked the time on her phone before picking up her pace. It was 8:02 by the time Christen reached the steps leading up to the house’s large, wooden door. Catching her breath for a couple of short seconds, Christen willed her legs to move further as she made her way to the porch of Tobin’s residence. Raising up her arm, her hand balled into a fist, Christen knocked heavily on the front of the door, her palm slamming into the wood two times before falling back to her side.

  

As she readjusted her straps, the door swung open and Christen was met with the familiar sight of hazel eyes, although unlike the other times she had seen them, they contained significant traces of exhaustion and fatigue as they layered with dark circles.

 

“Hey,” Christen said with a quirked smile, her fingers offering a wave with to the girl in front of her.

 

Giving a small gesture with her head in response, Tobin opened the door wider and moved to the side, allowing Christen to enter.

 

Stepping inside of the house, Christen took in her surroundings as the soft sound of the door clicking shut behind her filled her ears. The decor was surprisingly…

 

_ Homey. It's actually sorta homey,  _ Christen thought, impressed with the house’s interior.

 

Turning around, her hands still gripping the straps of her backpack, Christen faced Tobin with an expectant expression, “Where do I set up?” She asked with curiosity, eyes focusing anywhere but Tobin’s face.

  

Head swiveling to both sides of her Tobin shrugged in response, “We could head up to my room if you want. Or the living room,” Tobin suggested, hands stuffed awkwardly in the pockets of her sweats.

 

_ Well, at least I got an actual response this time,  _ Christen thought coldly, heaving in a deep breath of air.

 

“Uh- well, how about the living room? I'm assuming there's a table or something in there that we could work at,” Christen offered, still seemingly rooted to her place on the floor.

 

Nodding in agreement, Tobin brushed past her, expecting for Christen to follow as she led the way to the living room. Plopping down onto the couch, Tobin’s eyes dutifully watched as Christen unloaded her materials from her backpack and set them in organized piles on the coffee table.

  

“Alright, so I was thinking we could work on raising your grade in your elective first and then switch over to getting your assignments done for your mass communications class,” Christen explained as she continued to separate the piles of papers and textbooks she had brought.

 

When she didn't hear a response, Christen turned over to face Tobin just to see the athlete staring at the rug that decorated the hardwood floor.

  

Her lips pursing in frustration and annoyance, Christen placed her hands in her lap as she continued to stare at Tobin, “Look, this isn't exactly how I want to be spending my Thursday night either but we're both already here so if you could just pull it together for one hour and at least pretend to be interested, I would appreciate it a lot,” Christen huffed out, her voice wavering slightly during the middle of her sentence.

  

_ Confidence and patience, Chris. That's all you need to get through the night,  _ she reassured herself in her mind.

  

After a few more seconds of silence, Christen was about to speak to Tobin again when the other girl beat her to it.

 

“Yeah...yeah, alright,” Tobin uttered, her shoulders sagging as she turned to face Christen.

  

Surprised by Tobin's response, initially expecting an argument or at least just more silence on Tobin’s end, Christen nodded in satisfaction, “Alright, cool. Um- okay so you're taking psychology as an elective which works out since I'm majoring in psych,” Christen began, opening her own worn out textbook to the chapter that she was told Tobin was learning in class.

 

After about 40 or so minutes of Christen thoroughly explaining the subject to Tobin, eliciting a nod or shrug from Tobin every few minutes, she was interrupted by Tobin’s voice as she was in the middle of explaining psychological theories such as rationalism, empiricism, and functionalism.

  

“You're not better than me,” Tobin stated suddenly, her hazel colored eyes trained harshly on the open textbook in front of her.

  

Hand motions stilling, Christen furrowed her eyebrows in confusion before responding without missing a beat, “Never said I was.”

 

Glancing up in surprise, Tobin stared at Christen with wide eyes, her lips twisting into a rough smile.

 

“Okay,” Tobin said softly, leaning back into the couch.

 

Eyes still narrowed in confusion, Christen nodded slowly before resuming her explanations and teaching.

  

_ Where did that come from? Did I act arrogant or something when we first met? Oh God, maybe that's why she hates me,  _ Christen thought in panic, her voice stuttering as she explained topics to Tobin due to her mind being occupied by something else completely.

  

Sensing Christen’s anxiety, Tobin interrupted her once again.

 

“Uh- okay, look. I've never liked having people help me before. I know that's pretty contradicting considering I'm apart of a team but it's different on the pitch. Off the field, I hate having someone else help me succeed and I realize I need to work on that but could you just- I don't know, try and be patient with me?" Tobin rushed out, her voice, for the first time since Christen met her, not containing the air of confidence she usually possessed.

  

Shocked at the admission, Christen gulped down the lump in her throws before shutting the open textbook in front of them.

  

“Yeah, I can be patient,” Christen said softly, looking at Tobin with a subtle smile gracing her features. “We're actually done for tonight so I guess I should get going.”

 

Checking the time on her phone, Christen’s lips twisted into a grimace as she realized the time.

 

Having snuck a glance at the time as well, Tobin carefully watched Christen’s features and immediately picked up on her displeasure.

 

“Hey, if you want I could give you a ride home,” Tobin offered, her eyes flickering away from Christen’s as she spoke. “It’s too late for you to walk back alone.”

  

“Yeah, that would be great! Thank you,” Christen genuinely responded as she began to pack up her things, shoving them into her bag.

 

As Tobin got up from her spot on the cushioned furniture, Christen did too and fell into step behind her. The athlete stole glance back at Christen before she grabbed her keys, following Christen to her car.

 

Climbing into the black hued Jeep, Christen shut the door behind her as Tobin began to hop into her seat as well.

 

Quickly giving Tobin directions on where to drop her off, Christen stared at the empty road ahead as the soft sounds of the radio played in the background, Tobin quietly humming along to whatever song was playing. Smiling to herself and looking out the window, Christen allowed herself to relax for the first time that night.

 

Rolling to a stop at the front of Christen’s dorm building, Tobin watched as the younger girl popped open the door of the Jeep and hopped out, pulling her backpack full of books with her. Walking to the opposite side of the vehicle, Christen looked up at Tobin with a thankful smile.

 

“Thanks for the ride,” She said, meeting Tobin’s eyes with a half-smile

 

“Anytime,” Tobin responded with a matching grin, the corners of her eyes crinkling.

 

“Bye, Tobin,” Christen added, a repeat of the same words she had said to Tobin the day before, before turning around and walking away.

 

As Tobin watched the girl disappear into the shadows, she worked up the courage to respond with the phrase she had not been able to say a couple days ago before driving away.

  

“Bye, Christen.”

 

For the first time in weeks, Christen went to bed with a smile on her face.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the support so far!! It really encourages me to keep writing this :) but anyway, as always, tell me what you think in the comments below! You can also check out my tumblr @malpews for an aesthetic I made for the story. Also, don't worry, Bitchy Tobin™ is far from gone. Thanks so much for reading!


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